


Early Morning Nostalgia

by checkeredbow



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Gen, kink meme de-anon, new and confused, what needs to be tagged??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 14:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3450494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/checkeredbow/pseuds/checkeredbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's three in the morning and Kaneki is sure there are better things for him to do than stand outside her door.</p>
<p>(De-Anon from Kink Meme)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Early Morning Nostalgia

Kaneki had no reason to be here. 

In fact, he never wanted to be here again. 

Yet, he stood in front of the door at three in the morning, boring holes into it with his stares. He would've appeared to be a statue to anyone who passed him at this hour if it weren't for the rising and falling of his chest and the occasional wind ruffling his hair. 

He hated this place.

He wondered if it would be an easy meal. They were a family of three and he was a ghoul with months of training. He was nothing like the quiet boy who tried to make himself small and invisible as he ate dinner in the corner of the kitchen. He wasn't the boy who shook his head in apology while he was yelled at for absolutely no reason at all. 

"You'd get a stomachache if you ate them," Rize's voice floated into his right ear as the sound of clicking legs filled the left. So even Rize didn't want to taste their rotten flesh. 

Kaneki ignored them and continued staring at the door. However, the longer he stood there, the more vivid the memories got and the louder the clicking legs echoed in his skull. Rize's laughter was getting stronger and Kaneki was ready to fling himself off the balcony of the apartment floor when he heard footsteps from inside the apartment.

Soft crunches of slippers-- Rize stopped laughing and all but disappeared.

A jingle of keys-- the legs stilled.

And somewhere in the checkered walls of his brain, Kaneki decided to stay planted where he was as the door opened. 

She looked the same as always, maybe she's got an extra wrinkle or two by her eyes since he last saw her, but her hair was the same, her eyes were the same, the lips that spoke all those cruel words to him were all the same. From the pits of his stomach, Kaneki felt disgust upon seeing her figure. 

Not anger.

Not fear.

Just disgust. 

This lady was not worth his time.

He looked away just as her eyes settled on him. She was startled and appeared to want to slam the door shut so she could go back into the safety of her apartment. After all, there has been an increase in ghoul activity within the twentieth ward and she didn't want to be eaten. Kaneki almost wanted to laugh. Just what kind of lies were the media feeding the general public to lead them to believe that a mere door could keep them safe from ghouls?

Just as she was about to swing the door shut, her eyes lit up in recognition, "...Ken?"

Kaneki didn't respond, choosing to continue looking away.

"What are you doing here?" Kaneki wasn't sure if he heard her tone properly. Maybe it was all his mind twisting it around, but he thought it sounded like she was annoyed. Of course she would be, Kaneki gritted his teeth. Why did he bother coming back here?

"It's four in the morning."

_It's not like I rang the doorbell, why are you complaining?_

"Why aren't you at your university? Kamii, wasn't it? Such a good school, why would you leave it?"

_Are you going to hate me for it?_

"You bleached your hair? Whatever did you do that for?"

_That's none of your business!_

Kaneki was about to jump off the balcony, if only to just get away from this lady. He couldn't stand her--

"Would you like to come inside?"

Kaneki blinked. He looked at her, actually took in her face, the miniscule changes and the non-miniscule things that didn't change. She was smiling at him, looking at him with kind eyes. 

What happened?

Her words felt so cruel just a few seconds ago, but now she was smiling at him warmly-- the way a relative would greet a distant family member. Wait... That's exactly what they are. That's right.

"What's the matter?" she urged, "Come inside. I have a little time before work."

Work? She works now?

"Ah... Yea," Kaneki nodded as he followed her in. 

The apartment looked the same as it always did. Perfect for a family of three, but the moment you added a fourth person in it, everything seemed narrow and tight, like there was no room to breathe. Kaneki remembered there wasn't a single place in the house he could hide to escape her scorching hatred.

Hate?

She hated him, right?

So why was she complaining about Yuuichi now and pushing his stuff aside so there was space on the couch for Kaneki to sit? Why was she going to the kitchen and making tea for him--

"There's no need for tea," Kaneki said quickly, "Besides, don't you have to be at work?"

"I go there early to squeeze a few extra overtime hours in. I'm cheating the system."

She said it like Kaneki should praise her. He wouldn't do that. After all, it's nothing new. She's always cheated the "system".

So despite what Kaneki said, she made tea and set the steaming beverage in front of him. He picked up the teacup, but didn't drink it, only stared.

"So, why are you here, Ken? Is everything going well at Kamii? I didn't expect you home."

Home. Was this place supposed to be a home for him? Was it _ever_ a home for him? Kaneki narrowed his eyes and bit down on his lips, feeling the fury boil up, "Why do you care?"

"Of course I care!" she exclaimed, "You're family."

"Yea, we are," Kaneki admitted silently, but he could feel the words pushing against his lips, forcing their way through. 

He couldn't, he _wouldn't_ contain them any longer, "That's bullshit and you know it. You wanted to get rid of me as soon as you could!" Now that the words have forced their way out, they wouldn't stop, "Even though my mother worked herself to death for you, you've never treated me right! So why start now?! You blamed me for all of Yuuichi's failures and hated me for success! A child! You hated a child for his success! What kind of grown up does that make you?!"

The teacup was smashed into pieces as Kaneki slammed the cup onto the table. He stood up and started yelling on the top of his lungs, "Don't think that you acting kind and finding a job could ever make up for all the things you've done to both my mother and I! I hate you! I hate you so much! I'm not going to pretend that everything is my fault anymore! I was never the reason for your failures!"

It was only after he stopped talking and started panting that he noticed the fearful expression on her face. As he pulled his lips back from a snarl into a slight frown, he felt a familiar tight feeling in his left eye. 

She quickly backed up and pushed her chair over, falling to the ground. Kaneki tried to reach out to help her, but she reeled back quickly, "S-Stay away!" she yelled, "What the hell are you?! Get away! Monster!" She reached for the closest object-- a teacup-- and threw it at Kaneki. 

Kaneki didn't bother to dodge and the cup hit his cheek, cracking and slicing up his face. It healed back in seconds, causing her to scream even louder. 

He hated her. He didn't care. Her opinion doesn't matter. Yet, the fact that she called him a monster made him freeze, made him feel like his stomach just dropped a million miles. She continued to throw various objects at him and if they left bruises or cuts, he'll never know. He didn't feel the pain and the mark wouldn't last for more than half a second. 

"I don't know why I bothered," he mumbled as he turned around, ignoring her hysterical screaming and crying. 

At the doorway, he turned to look at her again and a smirk stretched on his face. 

Heh.

She was trembling under the table now, tears of fear streaming down her eyes as she screamed and called him names. 

She was exactly the same as she used to be, trying to do good and cracking under the pressure.

"Good bye, Auntie."

**Author's Note:**

> Woah, what? I don't upload documents onto ao3? I just use html?? Sure, I suppose. ovo`;;
> 
> This was a de-anon from the kink meme. Link is [here](http://tokyoghoulkink.dreamwidth.org/1787.html?thread=295931#cmt295931) if you happen to want to see it.


End file.
